


Past the Door by Silverphoenix08

by youngavengersbigbang



Category: Young Avengers
Genre: Canonical Character Death, M/M, some language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-24
Updated: 2013-10-24
Packaged: 2017-12-30 09:34:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1017013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youngavengersbigbang/pseuds/youngavengersbigbang
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>More than a year after Mrs. Altman’s death, Teddy’s still haunted by her memories and what they do to him, until someone gives him the sign he needs to heal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Past the Door by Silverphoenix08

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ChaoticDuo](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=ChaoticDuo).



> **Trigger Warning:** This story goes into the moderately gory details of Mrs. Altman’s demise, and also focuses heavily on how her death is destroying Teddy. If “deaths in the family” are a trigger for you, I suggest you read one of the other YARBB stories.
> 
> This story also contains a couple of swear words, just in case anyone is offended by them. 
> 
> Actual notes are at the end, to avoid spoiling this for anyone.

"Hey mom, it's Teddy. Sorry I didn't call earlier, I was with Billy and the others. We're down at Kate's old warehouse, watching..." Teddy's throat tightens as the words he wants to say hide behind his teeth. "We're... fuck..." he whispers as he shuts off his phone. He falls back against the door and slides to the ground. On the other side he can hear his two loudest friends, Eli and Tommy, arguing over the Knicks' pick-and-roll strategy, or lack thereof. Teddy imagines that Kate is trying to defuse the argument with that special brand of veiled threats she's so good at, and Cassie is having to explain to Vision why sports are such a touchy subject for teenaged boys. And Billy, meanwhile, is probably wondering what's taking him so long to make a second bowl of popcorn, the excuse that he gave Tommy to allow himself out of the room to undergo his daily torture session.

Mrs. Altman, a Skrull agent and Teddy's 'mother,' was dead. Fourteen months to the day, if Teddy remembered correctly, which he did. He never forgot the day that his life before the Young Avengers ended. He never forgot how he stood in the Kaplans' living room, spoke with his mom and, seconds later, was standing over her charred skeleton. To this day, even with the new wood floors and replastered walls, he still had a hard time walking through that room.

On the good days, he could suppress those gruesome memories. Unfortunately, today wasn't one of Teddy's good days. And every time this happened, he would immediately grab his phone and talk to the one person who couldn't answer: his mother.

He kept her number on speed dial, though he could never think of a reason why, other than "Because it's already there." He sifted through his call log while his mind autopiloted through the miasma he called 'thought,' and noticed that this month, he had called his mother more than his boyfriend. He felt the twinge of shame flare in his stomach, and guilt grip at his throat, tighter than the scarf he wore today as an emergency tissue to wipe any stray tears. His forehead hit against his knees as he curled into himself. He seethed through gritted teeth as he berated himself for being such a child. His mother, his family, was dead.

_*Ping!*_

What Teddy saw next, he couldn't really explain; perhaps it was a grief-fueled delusion, a prank text, or an impossible miracle. But what came across his screen shook Teddy to his core.

_Look behind you._

The phone slipped through his numbed fingers, tumbling down the hall as it bounced on the floor. He scrambled onto his hands and knees to grab the phone, but when he managed to see the screen again, the message was gone. He looked back to the door from where he lay on the floor. For months he'd pleaded with the universe to see her again, but now the idea of her being so close left him paralyzed. What would he say to her? Could he say anything to her? Would he simply fall down again and cry? In any event, he wouldn't know until he opened the door. Teddy felt as if he was gliding off of the floor as he stood and reached for the doorknob. He closed his eyes, took a breath and pushed the door open.

"Dude, I'm telling you, it's a good play!" Eli yelled.

"Yeah, if they're a good team! All they have going for them is a fuckton of money!" Tommy countered.

"Play nice, you two, or I'm changing it!" Kate threatened.

Teddy opened his eyes and saw that everything he imagined was true: the guys were arguing, Kate was playing peacekeeper, and the others were laughing at the futility of Kate's actions. Eli pounced on Kate, grabbing for the remote she had been holding over her head. She squealed with laughter as she threw it to Cassie, who threw it to Tommy before Eli could even get off of Kate. Teddy looked on with a blank expression as their "TV night" quickly devolved into a game of keepaway.

Teddy wanted to turn away, to curse under his breath at whatever evil force tricked him with that message. But instead, he felt himself blush, and the weight in his chest slowly lifted and rolled off his shoulders. There was something he wasn't seeing, and he knew it. He could feel something in the room that he hadn't felt before. And then he knew.

Teddy closed his eyes again, smiling a little as he let this newfound energy wash over him. He recognized it now; it was the light that he thought had departed the world with his mother. But now, for the first time in over a year, he felt it again, felt alive again. He felt his mother's happiness and love through his friends' own energies. He was back with his family again.

"Uh, Teddy?" Teddy's eyes snapped open when he heard Billy's concerned voice. He saw the mage standing right in front of him, a smile curling on his face now that Teddy had noticed him. "Everything okay?"

"Uhhh, yeah. Why?"

"Well..." Billy shrugged a little. "I've been calling your name for like a minute, and you were just sort of standing here with that smile."

"Oh!" Teddy chuckled a bit while he thought of a quick recovery. "Just thinking about those two probably won't ever change."

Tommy zipped over to the lovebirds, arms crossed and looking particularly sour. "Aw, well isn't that sweet of you to think about me. Hey, speaking of me, remember how you said you were getting more popcorn?"

Teddy's stomach lurched again. He'd forgotten his cover story. "Oh right! Sorry, I forgot. I'll go get it, for real this time." Billy was about to say something, but his speedster twin pulled him back to the couch before he could get a word out. Teddy disappeared into the hallway again, phone in hand. This time, he knew what he was going to say.

_Hey, it's me. Sorry I didn't call this morning, like I said I would. Anyway, I'm here with Billy and the others, just watching the game. I wanted to say that I got your message. It really helped. And don't worry, Billy and the others are taking good care of me, so you don't have to worry about me anymore. I probably won't be able to call again for a long time, you know. So... I need to go make some popcorn now, otherwise Tommy's gonna start climbing all over me._

_...I love you, Mom. I'll see you later. Bye._

_*click*_

**Author's Note:**

> This story was particularly difficult for me to write. Personally, death is a difficult topic for me to approach, partially because I’ve never experienced such a close loss, and partially because I’m really not one for making my readers feel sad feelings. I love happy endings, is what I’m getting at.
> 
> Ever since I read the original YA run, I always had this feeling that Teddy had some sort of habit which forced him to dwell on his mother’s death, and that he felt guilty about it. When I saw this artwork, I found Teddy’s guilty habit: calling his mother’s long-defunct voicemail as a way of speaking with her. Obviously, I don’t believe Teddy would become so distraught that he’d hallucinate that his mother was still alive, but I did want him to leave those voicemails with the sliver of hope that, one day, maybe his mom would hear them and actually call him back.
> 
> I toyed around with the ending a bit and had two ideas for it. The second (obviously the one not published) was to have Teddy crash on the couch beside Billy while they watched the game, and have his phone buzz another message saying “I love you.” Ultimately, I felt that the two endings would’ve been perfect… depending on the medium. In the format of a comic, I felt the image of the phone and that last message would’ve carried more power than it could have in only text. Likewise, I felt that this ending worked best without any visual aid, as I imagine this last scene as being nothing more than a black screen with Teddy’s voice-over narrating his last message.


End file.
